Ukrainian Parliament Adopts Law against ‘Russian Occupation’

The Ukrainian parliament has announced on Thursday (18 January) that the country’s far eastern region is ‘occupied’ by Russia.

Amid the Ukrainian announcement, Moscow has warned that the Kiev’s move could reignite a new war in the region.

On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament has adopted the ‘Donbass Reintegration Law’ 280 lawmakers out of 450-sea body voting in favor of the bill.

The ‘Donbass Reintegration Law’ bill was submitted by the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The law, instead of calling the hostilities in the Donbas a war against Russia, says about “taking measures to ensure national security and defense, and repulsing and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.”

The Kiev Post said the law is “designed to create the legal basis for the presence of Ukraine’s armed forces in the war-torn region without declaring martial law.”

After Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, the country backed Ukraine’s separatist groups in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces also known as Donbass region. The new law outlines legal responsibilities of Russia as it involved in the unrest.

The new law announced Russia as an ‘aggressor’ and said Donbass region are now under ‘temporary occupation’.

According to this newly adopted law, the Ukrainian citizens can sue Russia for damaging their properties in the afflicted regions.

The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Twitter, “We will continue to pave the way for the reintegration of the occupied Ukrainian lands through political and diplomatic steps.”